Mexican soldiers rescue more than 150 migrants kidnapped by drug gang and held near US border

MEXICO CITY – Mexican soldiers have rescued more than 150 migrants kidnapped by a drug cartel and held for as long as three weeks in a one-story home alongside the U.S. border.

National security spokesman Eduardo Sanchez says the victims were from Central America, except for 14 Mexicans and one from India. He said Thursday at a news conference that a 20-year-old man found guarding the house was detained.

Sanchez said the army rescued the group on Tuesday in Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, a town across the border from McAllen, Texas. He gave no information on which cartel was suspected.

The Zetas cartel is behind most abduction of migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2010, the cartel was blamed for killing 72 migrants in northern Mexico.